by Rabbi Ezra Seligsohn
Posted on March 3, 2022
What does it feel like to give responsibilities to others? To cede control over a project? In this week’s Parasha, Pekudei, the Mishkan is completed. What becomes clear from a close read of the Pesukim is how nervous Moshe was about the project and, ultimately, how surprised, satisfied, and impressed he was with the work of Betzalel and the craftsmen and builders of the Mishkan.…
by Gabriel Greenberg
Posted on February 17, 2022
In this week’s parsha Ki Tisa, Moshe received the two tablets which contain the Ten Commandments. When he came down and saw the people dancing in front of the golden calf, he smashed those two tablets. This prompts God at the beginning of Exodus Chapter 34 to tell Moshe to “carve two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, ‘asher shibarta’, which you shattered (Ex.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on July 16, 2021
The Book of Devarim–also known as Deuteronomy–presents us with a paradox. This book is completely Moses’s words: It is his valedictory speech to the Israelites and at the same time the divine word of God. How can both of these things be true? …
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on August 5, 2016
Two major figures in the Torah – Moshe and Avraham – act in ways to protect others who are being oppressed, even those who are not their own people. In this way, that can serve as a model for a religious leadership that incorporates a vision of a universalist social justice.…
by Rabbi Dov Linzer
Posted on January 8, 2010
“And it was during those days that Moshe grew up and he went out to his brothers, and he saw in their travails.” Thus begins Moshe’s emergence from the house of Pharaoh and his setting himself on the path that would lead to becoming the leader of the Jewish People, our Lawgiver and Teacher.…